Persons who play golf typically want to improve at all aspects of the game. One key area of both recreational and tournament play is making putts of short lengths. In principle, a short putt is anything that is just outside of the distance that is required for a golf ball at rest to just fall into the cup. But in a more practical sense, and to those who are familiar with the game of golf, a short putt can be considered to be that distance which is just beyond the length of measurement between the putter head and the grip of a putter. In golfing parlance it's “outside the leather” of the golf putter. For standard putters this is a distance of about 24 inches. In friendly competition, when a ball is “outside the leather” it is deemed to be far enough away to require the putt to be made; in contrast, if the ball is “inside the leather” it can be considered “holed” and the putt need not to be made.
These “outside the leather” putts are considered to be the most difficult, because they are usually required by a fellow competitor against a player who is favored to win a hole or match. So the putt has added difficulty because it is often made under serious duress of competition. Unlike a putt of great length where it is expected to just get close, the short putt is expected to be made, potentially adding even more stress to the putt.
Making short putts is a crucial area of play, because the short putt encompasses so many situations within the game. By way of example, if a player wants to make a par on a particular hole but misses a green, he must get his ball “up and down” in order to do so, meaning that he now has to pitch or chip his ball as close to the hole as possible (preferably into the hole, but the probability of doing so is very low). Being proficient with short putts can allow the player to play the chip or pitch shot with less mental strain, as he does not feel compelled to hit the greenside shot as close to the hole, thereby making the shot easier to hit. In another example, when a player actually hits the green in regulation, many times the approach shot does not ultimately finish close to the hole, so the player is forced to make a long “two putt”. A common teaching technique, known to those familiar with golf, is for the player, during the first putt, to pretend the hole is six feet in diameter in order to take pressure off the putt. However, even if successful, such a first putt can leave the player with a final putt that may be as long as 36 inches. Unless the player is proficient in making this short putt, the pressure on the first putt is never really eliminated, and thus the technique does not work. Moreover, in tournament stroke play, the hole is never completed until the putt is holed, irrespective of how short it is, and in match play, when the match gets down to the final holes it is virtually guaranteed that a player will have to make short putts to win a hole or a match.
Putting stroke errors affect a putt's speed and/or direction. For putts of short length, it is recognized by those familiar with golf that if a short putt is missed, it is generally associated more with errors of direction than speed. Being able to precisely putt to a given aim point is paramount to reliably make short putts. If a person has the capability to putt very precisely, his chance of holing short putts is greater than that of a person who cannot putt precisely. By way of example, if a person placed a golf ball twenty-four inches from a hole and aimed at the exact center of the hole, but had sufficient putting stroke errors such that the average directional variance associated with the struck ball was plus or minus 5 degrees, the putt, on average, would miss the hole. However, in that same situation, if a person had reduced putt stroke errors such that the average directional variance was plus or minus 1 degree, the person could aim as much as 1.7 inches on either side of the center of the cup and the ball would still fall into the cup. This would greatly improve the chances of not only holing level putts, but would work to improve the chances of putts that break right or left due to a green with sloping terrain.
Additionally, once putting precision goes up, a golfer can have greater allowance for the speed, because it is also well known by those knowledgeable in golf that a putt that strikes the center of the hole will have a greater chance of going in even if the putt is hit excessively hard, whereas a ball with the same velocity hitting the edges of the hole may have a tendency to miss due to the centrifugal force that is applied from the rounded edges of the cup.
Putting stroke errors that affect direction are either related to (a) the face of the putter not being perpendicular to the direction of the intended line of putt, (b) the stroke path of the putter not being on the intended line of putt, and/or to a lesser extent (c) the putter head not contacting the ball at the center of mass of the putter. All three errors can combine at impact and result in propelling the ball in the intended direction with some level of variance to that direction. An object in putting is to minimize this directional variance—or, said another way, to maximize putting precision—by reducing or eliminating the three stroke errors mentioned above. Current science related to putting suggests that club face angle can be responsible for as much as 80-90 percent of missed putts, whereas stroke path can be responsible for 10-20 percent of missed putts (not hitting the ball at the putter head center of mass is a distant third).
Instructional literature regarding putting often emphasizes the importance of striking a putt such that topspin is imparted on the ball. Properly applied topspin will send the ball toward the cup rolling end over end. Sidespin, however, which is applied when a golfer has a stoke path that cuts across the intended line of putt, will cause the ball to drift off of the intended line. The issue with any turf (in addition to potential irregularities of the surface) is that turf tends to dampen side spin imparted to the golf ball at impact, by creating drag forces that cause the ball to roll end over end. Thus, in an uncontrolled system (e.g., putting on a typical practice green), turf drag can cause erroneous outcomes. For example, if a golfer hits a putt in such a way that the stroke path imparts spin which would otherwise cause the ball to drift to the left of the cup, and the face of the putter points inside the left edge of the cup, the ball should miss the cup on the left; however, the turf may quickly dissipate the side spin and thereby eliminate the left drift and result in a holed putt just inside the left side of the cup. Although holing the putt is the desired result, the golfer learns little to nothing about the putt stoke errors because he sees the end result as a holed putt. Therefore, the golfer may not adjust his putting stroke to eliminate the errors associated with the stroke path and club face angle.
Total error of a putt can be considered to be the sum of the putt stroke error (built into the stroke up to the point of striking the ball with the putter) plus variances due to turf influence during the rolling phase of the putt. The turf or rolling variance should be eliminated or minimized in order for a golfer to have a way to absolutely isolate and subsequently reduce errors of the putting stroke, thereby decreasing directional variance and increasing putting stroke precision.
In view of the foregoing, it may be desirable to provide a putting practice device and/or method that can improve the putting of a player, particularly short putting, and/or that can provide feedback on putting in a controlled, repeatable environment.